He added that he hopes the contribution will “foster instruction that reveals the importance of maintaining ethical principles in the corporate environment at all levels” while also recognizing the value of business to our nation’s future and the prosperity of its citizens.

In honor of the investment, the college will henceforth be known as the David W. Wilson College of Business.

She explained that now more than ever students need an education that fosters critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills to help them “make the right decision[s] for the business, for society, for their communities.”

“This gift will allow us to continue to maintain that tradition of excellence that we’ve been known for,” Dean Wilson added.

This most recent gift expands on David’s previous philanthropic support for UNI that established the Wilson Chair in Business Ethics in 1999. For the past two decades, the faculty in this position have educated students about ethics and served as a resource and authority on the topic for the community. The Wilson Chair will play an important role in the vision for the Wilson College and its focus on ethics and integrity.

A portion of the gift will also establish the Wilson Scholars Fund, providing renewable scholarships for students from Tama County, which includes Traer – David’s hometown.

That small town of 1,000 is where Wilson forged the foundation of his entrepreneurial spirit, delivering The Des Moines Register and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier as an adolescent. His initial foray into sales, the job demanded he “sell the subscription, deliver the paper and then collect” from his neighbors.

Wilson acknowledges growing up in a lower-middle class family was rarely easy. As the eldest of five children, David took on responsibilities to support his parents, such as night and weekend chores once the Wilsons moved outside of town.

“I went from being a paperboy and shoveling snow and mowing grass in town to working for my dad, which didn’t pay as well,” Wilson laughed. “But that’s what we had to do to survive.”

Neither of David’s parents attended college, but they always expected that path for their kids. David’s mother, who also worked full-time, arranged to pay his first year of school on the condition that he funded the remainder. Thus began David’s time at UNI as well as his entry into the auto business. “Car salesman” was the last in a series of mostly blue collar jobs – night time mechanic and a stint in a foundry among them – which financed his degree.

As an incoming UNI freshman, Wilson wasn’t sure what his future held. He considered dentistry; he thought he might become a minister. He admits that above all he was concerned with staying in school. The specter of the country’s intensifying war with Vietnam loomed over his college years. Too many of his friends, including a fellow Traer native who had dropped out of UNI, were wounded or killed in the conflict.

“This well-rounded education gave me the perspective and the ability to really look at things and analyze them … my training in logic I believe has really helped me tremendously in business,” he added.

Wilson would minor in business as well, more than a decade before the School of Business was formally created in 1981. At the time, the program’s home was Seerley Hall.

Wilson said his college years were also defined by the mentorship he received outside of the classroom under Dick Gray, the manager of the local car dealership where Wilson got his first sales job. The two often played chess after work hours and discussed topics such as philosophy and business well into the night.

It was Gray who first exposed Wilson to “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. The influential book taught Wilson to believe in himself in the face of adversity, and contributed to his decisiveness as a leader.

‌“I was [a college student] wrestling with those questions about ‘What’s happening in my life?’; ‘Where am I going?’” Wilson explained. “And this book says, ‘Quit worrying about where you’re going and what you’re doing and just do it.’”

In 2005, the power of positive thinking would come full circle for Wilson. He was one of 10 Americans that year who were inducted into the Horatio Alger Association, an organization co-founded by Norman Vincent Peale that celebrates “the achievements of outstanding leaders who have accomplished remarkable successes in spite of adversity,” according to the association’s website. With that honor, he joined a diverse membership that includes Ronald Reagan, Maya Angelou, Buzz Aldrin and Clarence Thomas, who would don Wilson with the medal signifying his membership.

“I believe with success comes increased responsibility,” he told an interviewer at the time.

Shortly after graduating from UNI, David and his budding family would move to Arizona. Wilson said he was inspired in part by a parade magazine ad that beckoned: “Go where the sun goes for the winter.”

As the family’s Lincoln limped into a Phoenix-area dealership, David made a decision that would change his life. When he learned the vehicle repairs wouldn’t be covered under warranty, David persuaded the manager to make him a salesman so that he could get an employee discount on the service. Within five years he would own a 25% stake in the business, ultimately leveraging the partnership to launch his own dealerships throughout the southwest United States and parts of Mexico.

He says a transformational gift to UNI has long been on his mind, and this past year he and his wife, Holly, decided the timing was right.

“I’ve had a wonderful life, a terrific career,” David reflected. “This gift to UNI is made in the hope that this money will transform the university; transform the College of Business into teaching the ethical way to do business … I’m hoping this gift will ensure students will learn to do things the right way.”